Difficult times for a difficult love
by Lex Wooch
Summary: Potions master at Hogwarts, Severus Snape grows a rather intimate relationship with one of his students, a Slytherin by the name Alexandria Wooch. Watch their relationship strengthen and weaken as they face both challenges and personal problems. I own no characters but Alexandria Wooch, she is a creature of my making. All of the other characters are owned by Joanna K. Rowling.
1. Chapter 1: Long time, no see

The loud nock on the door broke the silence in the vastly large house and awoke Alexandria who was resting on the couch.

"Come on in," she mumbled sleepily.

The door creaked as it opened slowly and a cloaked figure entered the house. A man with a crooked nose and black, greasy hair found his way to the living room, locating the sound of the female voice.

"Hello," he said, like a whisper, and the female on the couch jolted into a sitting position and stared with wide eyes at the man standing in the middle of the room, now fully awake.

"So you're back," she finally said dryly, after a long moment of silence between the two.

The man simply nodded as he took his seat in a large armchair, leaving some distance between them.

"How did it go? Any casualties?" she asked, trying to make a conversation, though not too happy about the topic.

"None," he answered shortly, not sure wether he should be here or not. Not quite convinced he wanted to, either.

"Good," she told him followed by a series of nods.

Silence followed. After a while Alexandria sighed and an old memory crossed her mind.


	2. Chapter 2: Low tolerance gives detention

"Miss Wooch, that is the 5th time this month you have attacked a muggleborn! This sort of behaviour is not tolerated here at Hogwarts!" Professer Snape raged at the 6th year girl in his house, Slytherin.

"Well I'm not tolerating unworthy mudbloods here at Hogwarts!" she snapped back at him and placed her feet on the desk in front of her.

"There is no reason to put yourself higher than any other student just because of your, ehm, short-minded believes," he told her with a sneer, which caused her to jolt from her seat, standing only a nose length away from him, staring into his eyes.

"I'd prefer it if you don't call my family heritage short-minded, Professor," she breathed to him.

"Detention," Snape calmly replied, "my office, Saturday night at 8 o'clock," he finished off.

She kept his gaze for yet a while before taking a few steps back, then nodding at him.

"I won't be late."

Detention that night had been awful. She had even fallen asleep before finishing her job: to clean up and mend all the toilets at Hogwarts, all without magic. The only thing she remembered, was waking up in the girls dormitories in the Slytherin dungeon, not really sure how she'd gotten there. Later, she would suspect Professor Snape to have put her to bed, but on that day, she would never have thought of it.


	3. Chapter 3: No sense of humor

She snickered at the memory. Severus turned his head slightly in her direction at the sound.

"Am I humoring you?" he asked her lowly.

"Merely," she scoffed and looked at him. "How did we end up like this?" she sighed and looked down.

"Like what?"

"Oh you know what I mean. Like this," she turned her gaze towards him. "Since when did we not have anything to talk about?"

The silence continued for another few minutes.

"I don't know," he honestly replied. "I told you this wasn't a good idea..." he started, but he got cut off by her:

"Don't you dare give me that crap again Severus!" she exclaimed annoyed. "We've been through this..." she added silently with a sigh as she realized she had just lost her temper.

"Look, I... it's my pride, you know?" she asks him, and before letting him answer she continued, "I can't tell you I want you more than anything I've ever wanted before without having to insult you afterwards," she chuckled and tuck some of her green hair behind her right ear.

He finally turned his gaze upon her, and his eyes were now filled with regret.

"If I could undo it..." he whispered.

"I know Severus, I know..."


	4. Chapter 4: The mysterious voice

The sun was shining, making every student at Hogwarts who had chosen to spend the day outside. Alexandria had found her way to Hogsmeade, snuck out, disguised as a tourist. In the Three Broomsticks, she was calmly sipping a cold glass of cherry juice. She had enjoyed the day off in the little village doing some shopping and eating out, as she had no limit on her money, she always enjoyed spending her money on whatever she pleased. After sitting in the corner of the Broomsticks for a while, she saw a certain Professor entering the room, looking as though he did not want to be seen, hurrying across the main room to enter the ones in the back. Alexandria swished her wand and suddenly she was nowhere to be seen, even though she was heading the same direction as Snape before her.

She lost sight of him, and looked down the hall in front of her. Hmm... left or right? Then she stopped to listen after him. His low, monotone voice was to be heard to her right, so she silently followed the halls to a room where the door was left barely open, and she stood as close to the crack as possible, listening to the loow voices in the room.

"I assure you, my Lord, there is nothing to..." Snape spoke.

"Severus, I tell you what to do, not the other way around," a stern voice said.

"I am just assuring you that there are no candidates for you at Hogwarts, my Lord," Snape replied to the unknown voice.

A total silence followed in the room.

"Very well Severus, I will trust you on that. I know you could never lie to Lord Voldemort... I will leave you then, you keep your eye out for new candidates. It is nearly time," the unknown voice replied and as Alexandria realized who the unknown vioce belonged to, it was too late. SHe turned off her invisibility. He had already disapperated away, leaving Severus.

"I knew it! I knew you had contact with him!" she shouted accusingly at Severus. "You knew I was interested, because I told you! I told you I wanted to fight with him!" she went on, and Severus, taken aback by the unknown female in front of him, screaming at him. Alexandria realized that, and changed back to her own self.

"Alexandria!" he gasped at her.

"Oh get a grip," she snapped back at him. "You knew, all along, but yet you didn't tell him!?" she shouted in his face. "Don't. Keep me. From. My destiny," she spat at him angrily.

Severus then took a firm grip around her left shoulder, pulling her tight.

"Listen. Closely. Again," he told her in a low voice while crushing her shoulder.

She didn't even flinch at the pain he inflicted on her.

"This is no life for you. No life for anyone. There is no one... who deserves this," Severus uttered between angry lips, while looking at her with a fierce glance.

"Then why are you fighting all alone, Severus?" she asked him in return, in a whisper. Then she grabbed him by the neck and kissed him hard on the lips. Before he would even be able to kiss her back, she flicked her wand and turned invisible, running away from that room as fast as possible.


	5. Chapter 5: Conflicts and harsh thougts

It felt as if the whole room budged as Severus took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. Alexandria kept quiet.

"You know... I would do everything... I would," he told her with a breaking voice, not acting like his usual self at all.

"You know, I really wouldn't mind if you took a seat a little closer to me, Severus," she told him casually.

He slowly rose from his seat and made his way over to the couch she was sitting on. As he sat down, she gently placed her hands on his right hand, resting them on his lap.

"Severus... I really, really... love you. You know that. Why do you still keep me here? I mean, you barely visit, and leav it to the houseelves to deliver food and clothes, and other things..." but she was cut short by Severus.

"You know why I let you stay here," he says both humbly and stern at the same time. "I know what you're capable of. This is for you own good, and you know that Alexandria," he answered her.

"Don't. Call me. Alexandria!" she growled at him and stood up, though not wanting to leave him as she did not know when she would be able to see him again.

Severus sighed and stood up aswell. "I-I'm sorry, I know you don't like it, I forgot for a moment," he started saying, but he was cut short by her.

"Because you still treat me like the 1st grader you first knew me as!" she exclaimed in anger, turned around and jolted upstairs. A few tears escaped her eyes as she ran up the stairs and in to her room. Slamming the door shut, she falls to her bed and cries lowly. What does he really want from her?

Severus stood stille where she had left him. Once again, he sighed, then sat down and rested his head in his hands. He was simply trying his best to save her. To protect her from that dangerous temper of hers. They had both lived through enough tragedies already, and... he just wanted to spare her for more of them.

His mind travelled, and he thought of one of the times when she really blew his mind...


	6. Chapter 6: I did my homework, Professor

It was a warm, sunny day, and nothing about the way it started could have foretold how the day would've turned out to.

During breaks between classes, most of the students at Hogwarts spent the day outside in the nice weather.

Even the Potions Master, Severus Snape, was lured out of his usual spot in the dungeouns by the glimmering sunlight and the light and refreshing wind.

There were students all over the park, where the younger students fooled around and played games while the older students had their mind set for schoolwork and had brought books and parchment outside.

Severus Snape found himself smiling and lightly humming as he went walking around the grounds, to most of the students that caught glimpse of him's surprise.

A bit further away from him, Alexandria Wooch was also enjoying the good weather, even though she was supposed to be in Charms class at the time. She was found laying in the grass, slowly letting the sun tan her skin gently.

Then suddenly, a noise erupted/, and caused Alexandria to sit up, annoyed at the disturbing sounds.

The reason behind all the noise, was a couple of Gryffindors picking on and bullying a younger Slytherin. Alexandria stood up and walked in the direction from where she heard the sounds, and she found that Jeffrey Simmons, a 3rd grade from her own house was bullied by three 5th graders from Gryffindor.

"Little scumbag! You think you're so good, huh, being _pure-blood _and everything," one of the Gryffindors sneered at the younger boy.

Jeffrey, as the tiny and insecure 3rd grader he was, said nothing, just tried to walk away from them, but they formed a triangle surrounding him, not letting him leave just yet.

"P-please, I-I.." he tried, but he was cut off by another Gryffindor.

"Oh, do you need your m-m-mummy, little b-b-baby?" she mocked and they all chuckled and grinned at him.

The little boy started to tremble all over, and a small tear fell from his left eye.

One of the Gryffindors cast a spell on the boy, making him hang upside down in the air and his books and his bag with quills, ink and parchment, fell to the ground and made a real mess on the ground below.

"Hey!" Alexandria shouted and ran up to the scene. "Leave him alone, you morons!" she sneered at them as she rose her wand and came closer to them.

The Gryffindors' spirits fell somewhat, as they knew who she was. The muggle-born torturer. No one confronted her. But in the end they figured; they were three 5th graders against only one 6th grader. How hard can it be?

"Don't step closer, Wooch," one of the Gryffindors, a boy, spat. "This isn't your battle. Go serve detention or something," he mocked and the other Gryffindors chuckled.

Alexandria whipped her wand fast two times, and without saying a word she had Petrified the three Gryffindors and safely put Jeffrey down on the ground again. She took a last look on the Gryffindors, and turned around to see a Severus Snape with a raised wand and an impressed expression painting his features.

"Oh, Professor..." she muttered as she knew that he was well aware that she should have found herself in the Charms classroom at this very time.

"Ms. Wooch..." he replied slowly. "That was quite an impressive show of non-verbal spells."

"Oh," she breathed happily. Maybe he wasn't aware of her ditching class, after all.

In the background, Jeffrey started to gather his things. Alexandria did not dare to go help him, she focused on keeping Professor Snape in a good mood, or else this would be her 4th detention this week, and it was yet only Tuesday.

"But..." Snape stated, "don't you have Charms with the other Slytherins in your year now?" he asked her as he narrowed her eyes at her.

"Should I? Oh how silly of me Professor, I shall get going at once," she smiled at him, then nodded at him before leaving as quick as she could without looking suspicious.

Professor Snape was then left with a rather different look upon Ms. Alexandria Wooch than before. So the girl had done her homework, after all...


	7. Chapter 7: Heavy thoughts weighing down

Upstairs, Alexandria curled up in her bed. She sighed to herself, and wiping her tears, she calmed down a little bit. Why wouldn't he let her leave? This house, this place... It was no life. Not being locked up like this.

Then she stood up and walked into the bathroom. She took a good look at herself in the mirror. Never had she really liked that reflection. She had always covered her face up with dark makeup and kept coloring her hair green, as her heart truly belonged to Slytherin. How fake she seemed now, standing there and watching her own reflection.

This urge, this urge to just carve her face right off her head came again. She had scars from earlier battles, but in the battle against herself, she had always won, she had never let her give her scars. Never. She looked down. Sat down on the edge of the bathtub. Looked down on the floor.

"Fill your head with happy thoughts," she thought to herself and pulled out her wand, focusing on the first time Severus told her she love her as she whispered the words: "Expecto patronum" and a silvery, glimmering shadow of a dog appeared in front of her. It looked at her curiously before it starting jumping all around the room, floating in the air, playing with its tail and barking happily. Alexandria couldn't help but to smile.

She crawled into the bathtub and just sat there, enjoying the sight of the dog enjoying itself. But then again, the though caught her: How much was her life really worth? and with that, she dropped her wand to the floor, causing the Patronus to disappear and leaving the room rather empty and gloomy in comparison.

What life had she created for herself? What life had her actions given her? And what life did Severus give her, by keeping her in this huge, empty house, all by herself? What was even left for her to care about? Even most of her friends were dead, and she didn't even know wether her parents were still alive or not.

* * *

Downstairs, Severus Snape was troubled by similar and as heavy thoughts. He really did not want to keep her locked up like this, like a prisoner or a slave. But what other option did she leave him with? If he'd have let her out of the house, she would definitively have gone off doing something dangerous in rage, not thinking through her actions.

"I'm simply keeping her alive," he justified it with to himself. Then he sighed heavily and arose from the couch.

He figured he'd just leave her to her own thoughts. As he usually did. Then he fell back to the couch again. Who was he fooling? He couldn't just keep leaving her like this. Severus did really love her, and would do everything to protect her, as he had done from the moment he realized he did love her. He didn't want her to die, too.

Not like Lily. Not her too. He barely manages the loss of her, even now. The loss of Alexandria too wouldn't have been able for him to handle.


End file.
